Follow-up visit reveals shortcomings in services at Sweileh passports department office

AMMAN — Inspectors from the Public Sector Development Ministry recently carried out an unannounced visit to the Civil Status and Passports Department branch in Sweileh to check whether the quality of services had improved two years after their first visit, the ministry said.

Two experts in the field of developing government services visited the public agency on January 19 to follow up on the first visit carried out on January 22, 2013, according to a report prepared by the inspectors, a copy of which was sent to The Jordan Times on Monday.

The inspectors, who sought to check whether officials at the department had worked on addressing the shortcomings previously reported, said they made five phone calls to the branch at different times ahead of the visit which were unanswered by the operator.

During the visit, inspectors recorded the absence of a special office for handling customers’ inquiries as well as a box for complaints and suggestions.

Moreover, long queues of people waiting to be served were seen at the premises as only three counters out of nine were processing papers.

Customers were complaining as employees in charge of receiving inquiries and attesting documents were not available at their offices, according to the report. 

The way employees treat customers as well as the level of cleanliness at the department had improved compared to 2013, the report said.

Although the ministry recently prepared a guidebook detailing services offered by the passports department, the Sweileh branch has not issued service cards to inform people of the time frame and documents required for each service.

Over the past three years, teams from the ministry have been carrying out unannounced visits to various government agencies to monitor their performance and submit reports to the prime minister and concerned ministers.

The project seeks to improve the quality of services offered to the public.